02-23-2024, 12:54 PM
(02-23-2024, 11:30 AM)cherrypark Wrote:(02-22-2024, 07:27 PM)ac3r Wrote: Consumers will want what they want and the market reacts. It's not advertisers calling the shots, it's us. The best thing auto manufacturers can do now is pivot towards electrical sedans, SUVs and pickup trucks. Electric vehicles still need a heck of a lot of work since they're environmentally destructive and compared to gas/diesel vehicles tend to suck in a million ways, but improve that and then there's nothing wrong with owning an SUV or whatever someone wishes to drive (not that there's anything wrong with owning a traditional combustion engine SUV).
Besides the fact that it is verifiably true and well understood that the US emissions standards, incentives like crash safety ratings, and margins on the sale price of larger vehicles are all reasons car manufacturers would want to bias towards larger cars, it is wild to assert that you think the billions spent on automotive advertisement and cultural influence have no impact on customer preferences.
Indeed!
It is also foolish to believe that there is nothing wrong with owning a dangerous and harmful vehicle. Why is it not wrong that we are collectively choosing to own vehicles that poison our air, water, and directly kill others.
A persons unwillingness to face the reality of the harm of their choices reflects only on their unwillingness to face reality. I'm not saying that you cannot own a car, or even a truck, or that doing so makes you a bad person. These things are necessary in our society (well, not usually the truck) and that's just a reality. But being unwilling to acknowledge the problems with that DOES make one a problematic person.